Abandoned In PA

 In 1963 or 1964, the date was not written on the photo, our family was still mourning the loss of the eldest child, the first born son of my parents, but the five of us, as well as my maternal grandmother left the small midwestern state of Iowa for a drive to the East Coast area of the U.S. that summer, perhaps as a distraction to the sadness of the springtime.

None of us had ever been anywhere, so this was a huge trip for our family to say the least.

This photo was taken standing in front of Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington and I still remember the feeling of awe I had to be standing on this ground.

The drive from Iowa eastward crossed through the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware so we could see the Atlantic Ocean and stand upon it's sandy shores, onward through Maryland and then into Washington D.C., which of course led us to Mount Vernon in Virginia.

What a LONG drive it was all crammed into my parents Mercury Comet.  We three kids would take turns lying up on the back ledge of the rear window, and Grandma swooned on about the blue haze over the mountains as we passed through any and all states with any portions of the Appalachian Mountains.

One of the memories I recall was my dad driving the very long Pennsylvania Turnpike, which was THE roadway to take across the USA, curving through the dense forested areas of Pennsylvania, and oh how we awed those fabulous tunnels of the Turnpike which were so dark inside that the car's headlights had to be turned on in order to see your lane of these two lane tunnels.  The Turnpike was all four lanes, two each way, except for the tunnels which narrowed to two lanes... still, they were a modern marvel to think how these tunnels had been dug out to even allow for a roadway to pass through them.

The 1960's were simply the BEST years for family vacations.

Today I learned that in 1968  a portion of the Pennsylvania Turnpike included three of it's tunnels were abandoned.  Cars were becoming larger and people wanted to travel faster than those speeds which the narrow tunnels forced allowed.  A new bigger and faster and wider Turnpike stretch had been built to the west a ways without tunnels because it went up and over these mountains.

Today I viewed photos and videos of these abandoned tunnels and the now defunct stretch of the Turnpike which has not been used by the public in 46 years.  It struck me as a bit sad that my memories can never be visited in person, and I will never be able to drive my current vehicle through them and relive the experience of childhood that held me in awe so many decades ago.  

Time moves forward and some things simply get left behind in the weeds and dust of history.

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

Video of Tunnels in 1953, which is about a decade before our family travelled through them.

The closed area of the turnpike, abandoned thirteen miles is now used as an unofficial bike path as you can see in The Dainty Squid's post.  

This closure abandoned three tunnels, The Sideling Hill Tunnel, Rays Hill Tunnel, and Laurel Hill Tunnel.

Want to see more?  Just Google 'Pennsylvania Abandoned Turnpike' or the names of the tunnels.
I could look at this for hours considering it feels like a piece of my childhood.